§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what provisions are currently made by the Prescription Pricing Authority in respect of dispensing doctors who receive substantial reductions from their suppliers concerning their value added tax reimbursements;
(2) what research her Department (a) has conducted, or (b) plans to conduct, into the relationship between the discounts which dispensing doctors receive from their suppliers and dispensing doctors' value added tax reimbursements; and if she will make a statement.
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§ Mr. MaloneThe terms on which general practitioners are reimbursed for the cost of drugs which they have dispensed or personally administered to patients, are set out in paragraph 44 of the "Statement of Fees and Allowances Payable to General Medical Practitioners in England and Wales", copies of which are available in the Library. An independent confidential inquiry was conducted jointly by the British Medical Association and the health Departments of England, Scotland and Wales in 1993 into the rates of discount obtained by dispensing doctors on their purchases of drugs and appliances. A new discount rate is to be introduced in England and Wales from 1 April 1995 for calculating the level of doctors' reimbursement. The level of value added tax reimbursement is based on the discount rate. The profession as a whole receives only the level of expenses actually incurred in providing general medical services.